For me, one of the big failures of London 2012 was to get to grips effectively with some of the ethical issues in the supply chain (despite some leading-edge work from LOCOG) and to address the question of ethical standards for sponsors. (more…)
In every facet of our life, technology is present. So it should come as no surprise that technology is present in the fulfillment industry and is playing a massive part.
Something as staid as the warehouse has been streamlined and revolutionised as a result of technology making it more proficient and organised. Warehouses must be far more efficient because online shopping has made the fulfillment industry more relevant. A company such as Amazon ships millions of dollars’ worth of merchandise every day, which would never have happened before the internet age. (more…)
You don’t have to look far to see the reputational damage caused by poor supplier decisions.
According to recent figures by the consumer-insight network Kantar, nearly half of us changed our shopping habits following the horse meat scandal. Following this, Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke pledged to increase orders of UK-sourced meat from 20 per cent to 90 per cent and ordered a review of how the company’s relationships with suppliers could be made more “transparent and collaborative”. (more…)
In the past few weeks, a number of retailers havecome under fire for forcibly requesting incremental discounts on invoices in return for more prompt payment.
With UK businesses already facing tough times, practices like these not only exacerbate cash-flow issues for suppliers but also damage relationships and increase supply chain risk. (more…)
Many of us take it for granted that we are going to be able to study for qualifications in our chosen profession, either by funding the courses ourselves or through our employers supporting our professional development.
Yet for some people, a career in procurement as a qualified practitioner is almost out of reach, whether due to financial hardship, lack of transport to a study centre, or no local internet access. I have seen for myself what enormous challenges some of our members in the developing world have to overcome in order to qualify and what profound changes the achievement of MCIPS can bring to individual lives. (more…)
The great horse meat scandal has generated media and political outrage that displays a level of naivety of understanding of the business environment.
It also points to process and control failures in procurement and supplier relationship management which are potentially more serious. Press reports point to warnings to ministers that the conditions were in place for such risk to become reality. The warnings were apparently ignored, as they might also have been within firms along the food chain. (more…)
In 2013, we can expect to see retailers’ stock management and supply chain strategies embrace the need for holding and effectively managing a single stock, in response to continued cost pressures and raised customer expectations. (more…)
As both online and offline retailers get to grips with the busy Christmas period, end-to-end supply chain visibility has never been so important to ensure the smooth flow of goods from the manufacturers to distribution centres or shop shelves.
Capgemini’s e-Retail Sales Index predicts a 15 per cent rise in online shopping to £4.6 billion this festive season compared with last year, meaning the supply chain will be stretched more than ever. (more…)
The economic implications of globalisation have been far-reaching and well documented. But as supply chains get longer and more complicated, organisations have been forced to make more business-critical decisions, which are having a significant impact on hiring. The global marketplace has made supply and demand more volatile and harder to forecast. The need for a dynamic and highly flexible approach to employment is imperative. Candidates able to adapt to this new climate are best placed to succeed. (more…)
Data quality is a crucial driver of ‘omnichannel’ strategy success – where customers can use whichever sales channels, such as in store and online, they choose – and nowhere is this more important than in retail.
Retailers must share data across a network of trading partners in order to create a single version of supply chain ‘truth’ and many are now investing in new technology to gain visibility, manage data growth and collaborate across their network. Equipped correctly, retailers can integrate all systems and provide a useful analysis of the data that flows through them, allowing them to make intelligent supply chain decisions across all channels. (more…)
My role with the London Olympics finally came to an end in March with a final report, a bit of a party and a few last words on a blog. Since the closure of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, I have had a bit more time to reflect on some of my other work.![[Bloglines]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
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